The finances of facilities have become more complex in recent years. Accountants have difficulty tracking the financial status of facilities due to a number of factors. For instance, computer networks allow accountants greater access to data more immediately than in the past. As a result, accountants and those planning the finances of facilities sometimes find themselves faced with an overwhelming amount of data and unable to categorize it. Subsequently, it is often difficult to make meaningful conclusions based on the available data.
Some accountants and financial planners have turned to general accounting systems to resolve some of these issues. However, general accounting systems often only aggregate data and do not provide certain analysis. Having data collected in one view is helpful, but it can still be difficult to determine what the data represents. Additionally, general accounting systems provide a snapshot of the current financial state of a facility but lack certain tools useful in forecasting and identifying financial opportunities or weaknesses.
Some accountants and financial planners use accounting systems that provide them with regular reports as to financial performance. However, the accounting systems typically fail to accurately predict future financial performance. Also, the reports are often not timely and it is difficult to make immediate decisions that would improve financial performance.